Forget past and future; McCown Bears’ best QB now

If the Chicago Bears were out of the playoff race, it would make sense to play Jay Cutler. How else are they going to answer the $100-million question of whether they should keep him?

Cutler’s groin and ankle injuries actually helped in that regard. For several years now, the Bears fell apart whenever Cutler was injured. But was that because he was so good or the other Chicago quarterbacks so bad? Well, for seven weeks now, Josh McCown has shown that a capable backup can thrive in Chicago, at least with Chicago’s new offense under Marc Trestman.

Now Cutler needs to show more to justify a long-term, nine-digit contract. Or even a one-year $16.2 million deal under a franchise tag that Cutler, a far better teammate than he is given credit for, said he would accept.

But at 7-6, the Bears don’t have time to worry about the future. The future is now with their playoff lives at stake.

And that’s why Trestman should have stuck with Josh McCown instead of switching back to Cutler for Sunday’s game at Cleveland.

McCown leads the NFL in Total Quarterback Rating at 85.7, two points ahead of Peyton Manning and 13 points ahead of anybody else. McCown’s passer rating of 109.8 ranks third behind Nick Foles and Manning. This for a team that has had exactly one year with a team passer rating above 81 in the last 50 years.

(And, yes, Jay Cutler was having a fine season too. Cutler ranks 10th in the NFL in QBR and 12th in passer rating, but his 88.4 passer rating is 21.5 points behind McCown.)

Anyway, the playoffs are still in sight.

Now.

That’s why they should stick with Josh McCown. Because he makes the Chicago Bears better now.

As for all of this talk about how we know who Josh McCown is because we have seen him for 10 years reminds me of what the Vikings said when they let Rich Gannon go.

And what the Chiefs said when they did the same, even though Gannon easily outplayed their young, drafted quarterback Elvis Grbac.

Well, Rich Gannon at age 34 — the same age as Josh McCown — moved on to the Raiders and immediately went to four straight Pro Bowls, won an MVP award and carried the Raiders to a Super Bowl. If not for the infamous “Tuck Rule” game in the New England snow, he might have made it two Super Bowls for the Raiders.

The Raiders hired a new offensive coordinator the year that Gannon exploded to pass for 4,689 yards. His name should be familiar to Chicago Bears fans. Yes, Marc Trestman was Gannon’s offensive coordinator the year Gannon was MVP.

And it’s not like Cutler is doing Tom Brady things. We have seen Cutler three times as often (101 career starts to 38) as McCown and his career passer rating is less than seven points better (84.4 to 77.6).

And McCown’s numbers are climbing. Rapiudly. The Bears simply have a better chance to win their final three games with Josh McCown than they would with Jay Cutler.